June 2022
NLADA Comments on LSC FY2024 Budget Request

As Congress continues to develop appropriations legislation for FY2023, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has initiated consideration of its budget request for FY2024.

LSC’s most recent budget request, released publicly in March, sought $1.26 billion in funding. LSC based this amount on the unmet need that existed prior to the pandemic combined with the additional legal need created by it. This month, NLADA submitted comments to LSC that recommend its next request seek $1.42 billion.

That number reflects newer data published by LSC in its 2022 Justice Gap report, in addition to NLADA’s projection that the elevated level of legal need is not likely to fall significantly even if the pandemic concludes by 2024. NLADA summarized these comments at a meeting of the Finance Committee and the meeting materials, including written submissions from 20 other external stakeholders, can be viewed here.
Meet the 2022 BPDA Summer Fellows

The Black Public Defender Association has selected six Black law students as the recipients of the 2022 Summer Fellowship. The BPDA Summer Fellowship is designed to create a pipeline of skilled Black defenders that identify with and are committed to the populations most disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system. Each Fellow receives mentorship, intensive skills training, and financial support that enables them to successfully complete an unpaid summer internship at a public defender office and be well-positioned for post-graduate employment. You can meet each fellow and learn more about them here!
NLADA Statement on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

You can read our statement on this here.
Exemplar Awards Gala – Sustaining Racial Equity & Hope

Thank you to all who attended the 2022 Exemplar Awards Gala! We hope you enjoyed the celebration.

If you missed out, you can catch up on the excitement on our YouTube page. There you can see remarks from this year's Exemplar Awards Honorees, Tony West and Deborah Goldstock Ringel, and watch the Kutak-Dodds Prize presentation for this year's winners - Aidin Castillo and Fred Nakamuara.

This year we also honored 18 law firms for the work they did to address systemic racial disparities in 2021. You can watch the video detailing that work by this year's Beacon of Justice Awardees as well. Thank you again to the sponsors and all of those who helped make this event possible! We can't wait to see you again next year.
Thank You for Successful
Holistic Defense & Leadership Conferences!

Thank you all for attending the virtual 2022 Holistic Defense & Leadership Conferences! We hope that hearing from our incredible presenters, like Partners for Justice, Jarrell Daniels, Katie Carter, Derecka Purnell, Dr. Ifetayo Ojelade, Ilham Askia, and Keisha Hudson, has helped you understand how we can have the audacity to reimagine justice and take action! We hope through these conferences, you were able to understand the importance of the integration of the perspective of public defenders in policymaking and advocacy. We are pleased you heard from the experts themselves, that a diverse and holistic approach is necessary to combat the injustices we are witnessing and we hope it inspires you to use the tools you've gained from this conference to continue to reimagine ways to achieve justice for all!
Other Important NLADA Dates and Events


Member Corner
NLADA Governance Elections

NLADA's 2022 elections are well underway as we move into round 2 of the elections process. We want to thank everyone who submitted a nomination form, and remind current members to start checking your mail around mid-July for NLADA's ballot. The ballots will be due back by August 9, 2022. 

We look forward to a great election season! Questions about the election process? Email elections@nlada.org.
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